Dear David Emerson, Stephen Harper, Marjory LeBreton, Rob Nicholson, Michael Chong, and CP MPs who voted pro C-251,
”I shake my head at the hypocrisy of the hon. member.” – David Emerson in Parliament this week
hypocrisy n:
insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have
hypocrite n:
a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he does not hold
Give your head a shake, Mr. Emerson, for your very name has become so synonymous with hypocrisy that there is little doubt that a Canadian thesaurus will one day list “emerson” alongside charlatanism, chicanery, deceitfulness, deception, double-dealing, duplicity, falseheartedness, guile, put-on, sanctimoniousness, sanctimony, sham, surreptitiousness, treacherousness, two-facedness, and underhandedness.
As a Conservative party member I deplore our party’s silent acceptance of Stephen Harper’s undemocratic decision to appoint the duplicitous Emerson to cabinet.
75% of British Columbians even in staunchly Conservative areas of the province want to see a by-election for Vancouver-Kingsway. 79% of my fellow citizens in urban areas want the same.
These numbers are not going to change – our party will suffer in the next election thanks to Harper’s mistake. Politicians that do not speak out for justice and democracy will be held to account in the next election.
Don’t pull an ‘emerson’. Speak out.
Who believes that Canadians will look at their ballots in quite the same way in the next election, following the Emerson-Harper affront to our supposedly democratic system? Let no one believe the Canadians won’t be reminded. Except for the undemocratically appointed, the rest of you had better think about that when voting day next approaches.
If we don’t start walking our talk, the people of Canada will ensure that we are out of power again soon enough.
Michael Watkins
Vancouver-Kingsway
Above is an excerpt from a letter sent this morning.
Media highlights for Friday April 7
April 7 (Vancouver Sun) Emerson a ‘patriot’, PM says
Defending his high-profile defector, Harper says the former Liberal MP ‘put his country ahead of his party’
Emerson put his own ambition ahead of his party and ahead of our democracy. That makes him a traitor, not a patriot, and Harper is smeared by the same brush.
April 7 (Peter O’Neil, Vancouver Sun) Emerson will step aside to avoid appearance of conflict
International Trade Minister David Emerson—the former chief executive of forestry giant Canfor Corp.—said Thursday there is a possibility he may have to step back in some instances from the planned Canada-U.S. softwood lumber negotiations to prevent the appearance of a conflict in connection with his former company.
Emerson accused the Liberals of hypocrisy in the House of Commons this week for complaining about his trade role now, even though as industry minister in the Paul Martin government he played a major role in negotiations.
“I shake my head at the hypocrisy,” Emerson said Wednesday.
Hypocrisy: essentially meaning say one thing, do another. Right up until voting day, Emerson said one thing, over and over again – that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives would wreck havoc on Canada; would destroy social programs; would pit the strong and wealthy against the weak and poor in our society. Emerson’s record is very clear on this.
Then the next day Emerson started negotiating with Harper’s envoy to join his government. That’s REAL hypocrisy.
April 7 (Editorial, Vernon Morning Star) Throne speech misses the mark
It was almost laughable that the throne speech trumpeted the need to increase public confidence in government, when the Tories are the same bunch that appointed a non-elected Montrealer to the Senate so he could sit in cabinet, and embraced David Emerson crossing the floor. Those two instances, alone, left many Canadians wondering if the new government will be old-style politics.
Bear in mind that Vernon is located in the riding of “Okanogan—Shuswap”:, which voted solidly Conservative, yet, according to Ipsos Reid is part of BC that is 75% in favour of a by-election being called for Vancouver-Kingsway.
You can let their MP, Conservative Colin Mayes know how you feel about Emerson and the floor crossing issue by writing his office at Mayes.C@parl.gc.ca. The riding was formerly represented by Conservative MP Darrel Stinson who criticized on record both the Belinda Stronach and David Emerson party jumpers.
April 5 (CBC News) Harper faces first day in question period hot seat
NDP MP Pat Martin called on Harper to commit to a bill to end the practice of floor crossing, saying the prime minister “seduced” the former Liberal to defect to the Tories.
Harper said members of Parliament should have the freedom to cross and be held accountable by their constituents, adding that the “only parties that have this as an obsession are the parties that no one ever crosses to.”
Harper intentionally misses the point. Canadian voters expect their MP’s to live up to their commitments. They don’t expect them to hop from one party to the next the day after the election. Voters expect newly elected MP’s to abide by the will of the people, not thumb their nose at us. MP’s – and that includes Harper – work for us, yet Harper (and many politicians, truth be told) forget or arrogantly ignore this fact this time and again.